Blogging, Attempt #2

Introduction/Recap

So, the last time I had a blog, I didn't keep it up. Partly it was because of busy-ness, since I had four part-time jobs (I taught Spanish at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, taught a homeschool Spanish class in Winterset, taught piano lessons, and was freelance writing). I tend to be a procrastinator, and when it comes to writing I'm a perfectionist, and the two traits combined mean that I don't want to start things unless I am convinced I have enough time at one stretch to finish them completely and perfectly. Writing is scary enough as it is, because it's never exactly what you want it to be. Unless you have a deadline, you could work on a paragraph forever to make it say exactly what you want it to say, and of course with a blog there's not really a deadline. A procrastinating perfectionist's nightmare.

So what made me decide to start blogging again?

1) Several people asked me to/said I should.

2) I want to be able to keep my friends and family up-to-date about what I'm doing even if we don't see each other that often or they live far away.

3) I will attempt once again to get in the habit of writing regularly.

4) I enjoy reading my friends' blogs, because it's fun and enlightening to view life from someone else's perspective.

Topics

And what will be the topic of this blog? That is more difficult. They say that blogs should have a topic and a theme, that you should write what you know. So I'm going to make my everyday life my topic. Too broad? Perhaps. But I will likely focus on five categories:

1) Teaching Spanish.

2) Writing.

3) Being a new mom to a baby girl.

4) Funny things that happen to me.

5) Things I am reading and learning. These may be serious, like my current study of Hebrews, or they may be fairly light (almost enough so to spell it "lite"), depending on what fiction I am reading. (Right now it's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I would put in the category of light but not lite. It does have its dark and deep moments, but it's certainly no Brothers Karamazov, which I will finish someday.)

Don't Drink the Water!

So, obviously, I am terrible at keeping a blog. But I do have something odd that happened to me the other day...

Because so much of Iowa is farmland, we're a state at risk for high levels of nitrates in our drinking water. A friend of mine who is a nurse was warning one of the ladies in our Bible study (who is pregnant) against drinking Winterset tap water because of its high level of nitrates.

"I drank bottled water nearly the whole time I was pregnant," she said. "I mean, if you run out every once in a while it's not a big deal, but in general you should drink bottled water."

One of the other ladies said that her family buys the gallon jugs of distilled water from Fareway, refilling them at the distilled water station inside the store.

All this talk of nitrates was making me feel somewhat iffy about drinking the tap water, and a few times I considered buying distilled water or bottled water for myself and Ian. After all, if it's so harmful for fetuses, what's to say it isn't somewhat harmful in the long run even for adults?

I hadn't gotten a chance to buy any bottled water yet, so when I was at Fareway on Friday, I asked my friend Jordan in the meat department to point me toward the already-filled jugs of water. He did, and as I stood in the aisle considering whether a gallon of Fareway-distilled water was worth 69 cents, a low voice reached my ear.

"I wouldn't buy that if I were you." I turned to see a short, middle-aged woman with long, crimped blonde hair, a serious face, and slightly askew blue eyes looking up at me. "Aquafina's the way to go."

"Oh, really," I responded, waiting to see if she were joking or not. I had never seen her before.

"No, for real," she said. She was already standing inside my personal bubble, and now she leaned even closer and placed a hand on my forearm. "My husband works at the water treatment plant, and based on what he says... I would never, ever buy that water. Seriously, Aquafina is the best." The warning tone of her voice and the intensity of her facial expression told me she was not joking.

"Oh, I see," I said. She continued to stare at me with at least one of her slightly-askew blue eyes. "That's good to know," I responded, because I wasn't sure what else to say. I started to step away, and she stepped back to her cart.

"No, seriously," she said as she started to push it away, her voice beginning to quaver slightly like someone telling a ghost story. "Don't buy that." Her pitch got louder. "Not if you care about your family!"

And then, like a guardian angel who had appeared just in time, she turned the corner of the drink aisle and was gone. I stood there in the aisle and laughed to myself.

I am not making this story up.

Only in Winterset.

Iowa State Fair, part 1

So, Ian and I went to the Iowa State Fair last Friday, one of the largest fairs in the United States. It was a fun day, with a lot of walking, and we were pretty tired when it was finished. There were many very interesting elements, so I took some pictures to let you all know some of the things you can see at the fair.

That's right, folks: it says "Hot Beef Sundae." Mashed potatoes with meat and gravy over the top, and cheese sprinkled on top of that. Ian had one, and it was actually quite good. Reminiscent of shepherd's pie, of which I am fond.

This large fellow was advertised by a large sign outside his barn that said, "SuperBull," complete with the Superman logo and everything. Of course, after seeing that, we had to go inside and take a look.

And here are his stats. He must have terribly strong knees to do much of anything at 3400 pounds. Also, it's true that there is a town in Iowa named What Cheer.

I thought this reindeer was pretty exciting. Look at his antlers! (I almost typed "horns," but Ian is always on me to be more precise with my language.)

Ian and I like to show our support for Iowa and pork whenever possible.

Ian makes some new friends.

The draft horses were amazing! I don't think you can really tell from this picture just how huge they are, but up close they are very scary. Well, at least to someone like me, who has no idea how to control horses.

Anyway, apparently one of the things the ISF is known for is the variety of food you can find on a stick. They have chicken on a stick, pork chops on a stick, salad on a stick, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate on a stick (the Bluths, anyone?), and other things on a stick. They also have the usual fair fare (ha ha!), including deep-fried Snickers and Twinkies.

Our tour guide was a girl from our church. She is very involved in 4-H, has horses, and her dad teaches agriculture, so she knew a lot about the various reasons for why animal owners would groom them in certain ways for judging purposes. Apparently it's good for sheep to have a completely straight-across back and large hindquarters (indicating strong muscles) and for cows to have a bit of a peak at the top of their tails before they hang the rest of the way down. I was glad she was there because there is nothing like having an expert with you to increase your appreciation for completely foreign territory.

More pictures will follow soon!!!

This Is What Love Looks Like

When Ian picked me up at the airport on Tuesday evening, I noticed right away that he had cleaned my car. Upon arriving at home, I discovered that the house was neat and these were waiting for me on the kitchen counter:

(The roses are self-explanatory; notice the popcorn is the caramel-flavored kind and not the butter toffee.)

My man knows just what I like!

Madison County Fair

The air outside our house smells faintly of dung, and Thursday morning I woke up to the sounds of cows mooing, horses neighing, goats bleating, pigs oinking, sheep baa-ing (is that a word?). I felt like I was living next door to a farm. So what was it?

The Madison County Fair! The fairgrounds are only a few blocks from our house, and I don't know if it's because Iowa is so flat, or maybe it was just that the wind was blowing the right direction, but that morning I could hear all the animal sounds, and often the air around our house smells a bit like a farm.

The fair reminds me of those movies where people in the 50s go to a little county fair, and they see the quilt and baking entries, and walk through barns and look at all the horses and cows and pigs (I discovered this week that a barn full of pigs smells TERRIBLE-it made me never want to eat pork again). The only thing is that it's not the 50s, and there is no old-fashioned ferris wheel, only other carnival rides that look unsound.

I did enjoy watching the 4-H kids demonstrate their horsemanship, although I was a little out of the loop on some of the 4-H jokes. The announcer would say something, and the crowd would burst into laughter, while I had no idea what was going on.

Sadly, I did not have a chance to go to the mud run, the rodeo, or the demolition derby. I was somewhat disappointed, but those were extra money and I did not feel like paying. Maybe next year this will change. I feel like I shouldn't let my cheapness keep me from experiencing Iowa.